Shorecrest High School’s second annual astronomy night took place on May 9.
The event, put on by the astronomy class, was a culmination of class work throughout the year.
“The class has been working on it all year, not constantly,” said teacher Vine Santo Pietro. “It has been a little piece of the curriculum all year long, so we’ve made different pieces of it as we’ve gone on.”
The event, which was open to the public, included a slide show and a planetarium and high-power telescopes, both provided by the Seattle Astronomical Society, along with exhibits by students about stars, planets and astronomers.
“I’m really glad that we got the people from the Seattle Astronomical Society with their telescopes and the planetarium,” said Rebecca Reed, chair of the event and a junior in the astronomy class.
Also included in the festivities were a dart board, a star wheel, a sun dial and arts and crafts stations where people could make their own Saturns. Refreshments included asteroid cookies.
“We wanted to create a program that was good for little kids up to adults and I think we’ve managed,” said Santo Pietro.
Dr. Julie Lutz, an astronomy professor at the University of Washington and director of NASA Educator Resource Center, was there to answer questions.
The event was held in the Student Activities Center and the cafeteria. A hallway illuminated with black light provided an eerie, outer-space feel.
The areas were filled with high school students, parents and children.
The biggest draw was the planetarium, in which parents and children enjoyed finding the constellations projected on the dome with the star map provided.
Children could barely contain their excitement as the lights dimmed and the stars came out in the planetarium.
“Looking back at previous astronomy nights, this one seemed to me to be a little above average,” said junior Ben Kreins. “I also thought that the planetarium was a very nice touch.”
The students, who worked after school to get ready for the event, were happy with how everything came together. “We know that at least 200 people came, so that is pretty good for a high school class,” Kreins said.
Astronomy Night was going to culminate in some real star gazing through the Seattle Astrological Society’s telescopes, but rainy weather put a stop to those plans.
“If the weather was nice we would be watching stars,” said Santo Pietro, “but oh well, it is Seattle.”
April Sergneri is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
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